Plastic bottle cap with integral handle



und .my as. 196s --'A\lg.'1491959 l y l' GRussEN 33,162,035

' .'Pms'xc norm: .CAP wma INTEGRAL HANDLE Y s ,Smets-sheet 1 Filed Julyv25, 196e PLAS'IKICVBOTTLE CAP WITH INTEGRAL HANDLE s sheets-,sheet 2Aug.19, 1969 J. GRussgN rLAs'rIc o'rTLE CAP wrm 'INTEGRAL HANDLE FugaJuly 25, 1968 5 sheets-sheet s l.

United States Patent() 3,462,035 PLASTIC BOTTLE CAP WITH INTEGRAL HANDLE`lean Grussen, 6 Rue Adolphe Yvon, Paris, France Filed July 25, 1968,Ser. No. 747,635 Claims priority, application France, July 28, 1967,116,185; Feb. 9, 1968, 139,392; July 2, 1968,

Int. Cl. sd 39/16, 41/16 U.S. Cl. 21S-41 24 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A one-piece plastic bottle cap comprising a crownshaped mainpart encircled by a` reinforcing ring which holds the main part on thebottle and is integral therewith over a 60 sector, but may be swungupwardly and used to pull the cap off the bottle. The cap has twodepending skirts and the inside of the outer skirt is provided withretaining means for engagement over the peripheral ridge on the mouth ofa bottle.

The difficulties encountered when trying to effect a close seal betweenplastic caps and glass bottles containing carbonated liquids orcompressible bottles under substantial internal pressure from airlocated above the liquid stored therein are well known.

In effect, the internal ribs designed to hold the cap on are not alwaysadequate to resist the pressure of the gas in the bottle, so that thecap may be spontaneously blown off.

This problem has heretofore been solved by combining plastic capsprovided with an internal sealing skirt with external metallic caps suchas those known as crown caps, for example.

The present invention relates to a new type of one-piece cap made ofplastic material which does not require the use of a bottle-opener, butis nevertheless capable of resisting high internal pressures in thebottle, said capsule being characterized by the fact that it comprisesinternal gripping means which are either continuous or separated byrelatively thin parts which are extended as weakened points cut into thecap itself. It takes up the same amount of space as a metallic cap ofthe crown type before being applied to the bottle, and may easily beadapted for use in bottle-capping machines of known types by means ofslight modifications of the capping heads. The cap comprises an externalpull-ring which acts as a reinforcement, said ring being permanentlyattached to thelower part of the cap so that it cannot be lost by beingfastened at one side over an angle of about 60 and, on the opposite sideby at least one thin frangible web. The cap is provided at its top withindicating means telling the user where he should exert pressure to tearthe frangible webs, so that he may then utilize the ring to pull off thecap by introducing an index finger into a central hole in the ring,while also exerting pressure on a central depression in the top of thecap which serves to prevent swelling of the cap during pasteurization.Introduction of the index finger also permits the thumb to be pressedagainst a grooved area near said indicia, so as toexert traction on thepart of the cap fixed to said ring and thereby ex the capperpendicularly to its plane of symmetry, and free a part of theretaining ring while tearing said cap and possible its retaining ringalong the line along which it is bent, so as to provide an indicationthat the bottle has been opened.

Instead of providing indicating means near the preferably grooved areaon which the thumb rests, a projection attached to said pulling ring canbe provided. This projects radially from the periphery of the ring onthe side opposite that at which it is secured to the cap.

3,462,035 Patented Aug. 19, 1969 "ice Such a projection facilitates thetearing of the web or Webs which connect the ring to the cap proper.

It will be readily understood that it is also possible to provideretaining means in the form of two or three members so positioned thatthe bending takes place at a point at which the retaining means isinterrupted.

In either case it is possible to re-use the new cap after it has beenremoved, but this cap will always display cracks showing that the bottlehas previously been opened.

It should be noted that the idea of reinforcing a cap with a ring isextremely old, as is the idea of a pulling ring which may be detached,along a substantial angular sector, from the principal part of the cap.

However, these two devices have never been combined to make it possibleto perform all the functions of the cap according to the presentapplication, since the onepiece devices of the prior art have in generalcomprised a ring connected to a cap by tongues or webs and which is slidinto its final position on the cap proper.

Other prior art devices have comprised a pull ring of the type describedattached to a simple cap collar which rests on the upper part of theneck of a bottle, but in no case have they comprised a pull ring fixedto the lower part of a cap which indicates that it has been opened, andcapable, when in its initial position, of reinforcing the effect of theprincipal means for holding the cap on the bottle.

In an improved embodiment of the new cap especially adapted for flasksor bottles containing carbonated liquids, improved sealing results fromthe use of a double-walled skirt of a known type, but characterized bythe fact that the innermost wall of the sealing skirt is thinner thanthe one which is to abut the inside of the neck of the flask or bottle.The thicker wall is preferably provided with a rib which serves as asealing ring.

Moreover, in order to improve the sealing ability of the cap, it maycarly near the upper part of its inner surface, so positioned as to sealagainst the upper part of a bottle neck between the sealing skirt andthe peripheral part of the cap, a sealing ring of compressible materialof the plastisol type, preferably made of polyvinyl chloride or copolypolyethylene copolymers and characterized by the fact that this materialcontains a quantity of plasticizer sufficient to bring its melting pointbelow that of the material used to make the one-piece cap itself, so asto permit said sealing ring to be cast inside the cap or moldedthereinto after the cap itself has first been molded.

These two materials are caused to adhere to each other in a conventionalmanner, by providing grooves, striations, an undulating surface or aroughened surface in the mating portion of the cap.

The new cap may also comprise a groove at its top which, during removalof the cap, facilitates deformation of) the cap and tearing along theweakened lines about its periphery.

This groove is perpendicular to the plane of symmetry of the cap and maybe positioned either in a diametral plane or at the level of twoweakened lines provided on opposite sides of the part of the cap whichis fixed to the cap which is xed to the cap-opening ring.

The characteristics of the present invention will be better understoodfrom a reading of the following description of several embodiments ofone-piece plastic caps according to the invention, which embodiments aredescribed purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, taken from above a cap according to theinvention before it has been removed from a bottle;

FIG. 2 shows the same cap in the course of being removed from a bottleby means of the pull ring;

FIG. 3 is a vertical diametral section taken along the line III-III ofFIG. 4, showing schematically the way in which it cooperates with abottle opener, by means of a groove provided for that purpose;

FIG. 4 is a plan view taken from the bottom of the same cap;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of another embodiment of the cap accordingto the invention, comprising a discontinuous retaining ring consistingof two symmetrical semi-circular components;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of a third embodiment of the inventioncomprising a discontinuous retaining ring composed of three componentsseparated from each other by substantial intervals;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view taken from above another embodiment of thecap according to the invention adapted to receive a tax stamp;

FIG. 8 is a Vertical diametral section through the cap shown in FIG. 7,taken along a line passing through the center of said tax stamp;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view taken from below a cap comprising a sealingskirt having two walls which diier in thickness;

FIG. 10 is an axial section showing the cap of FIG. 9 mounted on theneck of a bottle;

FIG. l1 is a perspective view taken from above the cap of FIG. 9,showing two embodiments of said cap; and

FIG, 12 is a bottom plan view showing this same cap without itsplastisol sealing ring.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cap comprises a pulling ring 1 attached alongpart of its periphery, between two notches, one of which is shown at 2on FIG. 1, to a one-piece bottle cap 3 comprising an inner sealing skirt4, best seen on FIG. 3.

The cap 3 comprises a mark 5, diametrically opposite the point at whichthe ring 1 is secured to the cap proper, which designates the point atwhich the ring should be pushed upward to free it from the cap. Thisarea is also grooved to roughen the surface engaged by the thumb 7 ofthe user in the manner shown in FIG. 2.

As hereinbefore pointed out, the mark 5 may be eliminated when thepull-ring 1 is provided with a radially projecting boss which serves toindicate the point at which pressure should be applied to separate thering from the cap.

FIGS. 1 and 4 show that the cap 3 is provided at its center with adepression 8 on which the index linger 9 of the user rests whenintroduced into the pull-ring 1, and which prevents swelling of thecapsule during pasteurization.

FIG. 2 shows that the cooperative action of the digits 7 and 9 and thepull-ring 1 permit removal of the cap by pulling the ring 1, and thepart of the cap 3 secured to that ring, in the direction of the thumb 7.

It will be hereinafter seen that, during this operation, the cap issubjected to stresses which cause exing about a short radius ofcurvature equivalent to bending, at certain weakened points on the cap.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show that the lower part of the ring 1 is provided with agroove 10 to facilitate removal of the cap by using a conventionalbottle-opener.

The details of the internal retaining ring 11 are shown on FIG. 4.

This ring has a scalloped inner edge delimiting alterhating portions 12having a maximum radial thickness, and 12a having a minimum radialthickness.

Moreover, the external wall of the cap is weakened at four points 13 atwhich the retaining ring is interrupted, so as to permit the cap, whenpressed by the index finger 9, before complete separation of theretaining ring, especially when pressed on the side 14 opposite the partof the cap secured to the pull-ring 1, to ex along three generatricesperpendicular to the plane of symmetry IIL-III.

It should also be noted that the retaining ring 11 is joined to the cap3 by two small, easily torn webs, shown at 15 on FIG. 4, which are, inthe embodiment described, aligned with the two weakened points 13, butmay also be spaced from these points.

The fact that the bottle has been opened is indicated by the rupture ofthe webs 1S7 but when the pull-ring 1 is put back in place to reclose abottle which has been opened, the tear in the webs is not highlyvisible. However, removal of the cap also results in visible tears alongthe vertical external wall of the cap in alignment with the weakenedpoints 13. These tears are not shown in the drawing.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the pullring 1 is secured tothe cap 3 in the same way as in FIG- URE 4, but the retaining ring, inthe embodiment of FIG. 5, comprises two symmetrically positioned arcuatesegments 11a separated by slots 16 which extend into the external wallof the cap 3, but do not reach the slit 17 separating the pull-ring 1from the cap 3.

.When the cap is removed, its external wall is torn adjacent the twoslots 16 and these tears remain visible after the cap has been used torecap a bottle and the ring 1 has been put back in place.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the retaining ring consists of amember 11b, which occupies about a 120 sector, and two symmetricallypositioned members, each of which occupies a sector of about 60.

It is easy to understand that regardless of how the cap is removed,whether by means of the pull-ring 1 or by means of a bottle opener suchas the bottle opener 10a of FIG. 3, it is advantageous that there be noretaining ring along the part of the capsule on which force is exerted,so that the elements 11C may be easily flexed to facilitate removal ofthe cap from the neck of the bottle.

In like manner, in alignment with the weakened points in the externalIwall of the cap, shown at 18 in FIG. 6, exing takes place along a lineperpendicular to the plane of symmetry of the cap and aligned with thespaces between the retaining members 11b and 11e.

This ilexing produces tears in alignment with the weakened points 18.These tears remain visible after the pullring 1 has been put back inplace.

Of course, the embodiment of FIG. 5, which comprises a retaining ringhaving a substantial radial thickness, which is interrupted only at twopoints over very small angular sectors, is especially designed forbottles in which there is a high gas pressure, the other embodimentsbeing adequate in most other cases.

In order to make it easier to insert the index linger 9 in the ring 1,FIGS. 1 and 3 show that the ring is thicker at 1a on the side oppositethe part secured to the cap 3.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8 the pull-ring 1 is also provided witha boss 1b, shaped differently from the boss 1a, positioned on the sideof the ring opposite the part thereof which is secured to the cap 3, sothat the cap may be used as a tax stamp replacing the stamp required inthe case of alcoholic beverages.

In this case, a piece of cardboard, or preferably a Wafer of plasticmaterial to which a printed aluminum film has been applied, isadhesively secured or heat welded to the top of the cap 3 and the boss1b.

Preferably the plastic lmaterial is the same as that of which the cap ismade.

Tearing of the piece of cardboard stuck over the boss 1b and the cap 3,or the tax wafer, when the webs 13 are torn, serves as an additionalindication that the `bottle has been opened.

When a plastic wafer is used, this material is usually heat welded ontothe boss 1b and the cap 3, but it could, of course, be adhesivelysecured.

A wafer of this type is shown on FIGS. 7 and S; the printed aluminum isidentified by reference numeral 19 and the lower layer of plasticmaterial by reference numeral 20. Y

FIGS. 9 and l0 show the retaining ring 11, which is variable inthickness, and the lower part of a sealing skirt 4a shown in greaterdetail on FIG. 10.

The pull-ring 1 is secu-red to the cap proper at the part 21 whichextends over an angular sector of about 60, and is also secured at itsopposite side to the lower part of said cap by means of two frangiblewebs 15.

FIG. 9 also shows the .plastisol sealing ring 22 which covers the partof the cap 3 between the sealing skirt 4a and the peripheral skirt.

This sealing skirt comprises a thin inner wall 4b (FIG. and a thickerouter wall 4c provided with an annular rib 4d which seals against theinside of the neck of the bottle.

The plastisol sealing ring 22 is caused to adhere to the material of thecap by providing two ribs 24 on the inside of the cap, as shown in FIG.12.

This latter figure also shows the two webs connecting the ring 1 to theperiphery of the cap 3, as well as four scorings 13, two of which areshown in broken lines on FIG. ll, and along which the cap is torn duringits removal, `which is effected by pressing on the central part 8 of thecap while pulling on it by means of the ring 1.

For the sake of simplicity the external ribs and marks on the sideopposite the part 21 of the ring, and the thickened part 1a shown inFIG. 3, have not been shown in FIG. 11.

As previously pointed out, the cap may have either a diametral groove 25or a groove 25a shown in phantom lines, in alignment with the twoscorings 13 shown on FIG. 11. Regardless of its exact position, such agroove facilitates removal of the cap and its tea-ring along certain ofthe scorings.

The grooves 25 and 25a, the webs 15 and the portion 21 of the ring 1which is connected to the cap 3 are found in FIG. 12 as Well.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing embodiments have beendescribed purely by -way of example and they may be modified as todetail without thereby departing from the basic principles of theinvention.

In particular, only two instead of `four scorings 13 may be provided,and these may be oriented toward the side of the cap to which the ringis secured.

What is claimed is:

1. One-piece plastic bottle cap comprising inner and outer skirtsdepending from a circular top and an external reinforceing ring securedto said cap, encircling said outer skirt, and adapted to be used asmeans for -removing said cap, said plastic cap being characterized bythe fact that it comprises retaining means on the inside of said outerskirt, said retaining means having a maximum radial dimension attainedalong only part of the inner wall of said outer skirt, that said cap hasexternal dimensions approximating those of a conventional crown cap,that said reinforcing ring is integrally connected to the lower part ofsaid cap ove-r a sector of at least nearly 60 on one side of said capand by at least one frangible web on the opposite side of said cap.

2. Cap as claimed in claim 1 which is scored along lines at spacedintervals about its peripheral wall so as to tear along those lines whenremoved from a bottle, said points being visible -when said reinforcingring is in place on said cap.

3. Cap as claimed in claim 2 in which said scored lines are in alignmentwith spaces which separate said retaining means into arcuate segments.

4. Cap as claimed in claim 1 having an external mark above saidreinforcing ring opposite its integral 60 connection to said cap.

5. Cap as claimed in claim 1 comprising a central depression in the topthereof which prevents radial expansion of the cap during pasteurizationand is adapted to receive the index finger of a user when the cap isbeing removed.

6. Cap is claimed in claim 1 in which said reinforcing collar comprisesa radially projecting protuberance on the side opposite its integral 60connection to said cap.

7. Cap as claimed in claim 1 which comprises a roughened portion on theside opposite the 60 integral connection of said ring to said cap.

8. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said ring is connected to said capby two frangible webs symmetrically positioned opposite the 60 integralconnection of said ring to said cap.

9. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which the lawer surface of said ring isprovided, near its 60 connection to said cap, with a groove adapted tobe engaged by a conventional bottle opener.

10. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said retaining means has ascalloped edge and is divided into segments by four circumferentiallyequidistant notches.

11. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said retaining means comprisestwo semi-circular members symmetrically positioned with respect to adiametral plane perpendicular to the plane of symmetry of the cap andseparated by short circumferential openings.

12. Cap as claimed in claim 11 in which said openings extend into theperipheral wall of the cap to form weakened points for initiating tearsin said cap when it is removed from the bottle.

13. 'Cap as claimed in claim 1 in Which said retaining means comprisesone flange extending over a sector of about opposite the integralconnection of said ring to said cap, and two symmetrically positionediianges occupying sectors of about 60 each and spaced about 60 from eachother.

14. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said reinforcing ring is thickeron the side opposite its 60 connection to the cap and is provided with aboss on its upper part.

15. Cap as claimed in claim 14 in which said boss extends upwardly tothe top of the cap proper.

16. Cap as claimed in claim 15 which comprises a seal extending acrosssaid boss and the top of said cap.

17. Cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said sealing skirt comprises aninner wall and a thicker outer Wall radially spaced therefrom.

18. Cap as claimed in claim 17 in which said outer wall is provided withan external rib positioned to seat against the inside of a bottles neck.

19. Cap as claimed in claim 1 comprising a compressible sealing ringbetween its peripheral wall and said sealing skirt, said sealing ringbeing made of a plastisol containing suiicient plasticizer to bring themelting polnt of the material of which the sealing ring is made belowthat of the material of which the cap proper is made.

20. Cap as claimed in claim 19 in which said compressible sealing ringis made of a plastisol based on a material selected from the groupconsisting of polyvinyl and polyethylene copolymers.

21. Cap as claimed in claim 1'9 in which the surface of said cap incontact with said sealing ring is roughened to facilitate adhesion ofsaid sealing ring to said cap.

22. Cap as claimed in claim 2 which is provided with a groove in itsupper surface.

23. Cap as claimed in claim 22 in which said groove lies in a diametralplane.

24. Cap as claimed in claim 22 in which said groove is in alignment withtwo scorings in the peripheral wall of the cap and lies on the side ofsaid cap opposite its 60 connection to said ring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,895,654 7/ 1959 Rieke 220-94 X3,341,046 9/1967 Bereziat et al 215-41 3,343,700 9/ 1967 Heubl 215--41GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner U.'S. Cl. X.R.

